


Breath Of Life (Another Taste Of Divine Rush)

by joidianne4eva



Series: Fireflies [3]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Bottom Derek, Creature Stiles, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-18
Updated: 2016-06-18
Packaged: 2018-07-15 20:51:05
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,201
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7238023
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/joidianne4eva/pseuds/joidianne4eva
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There was something different about Stiles. </p>
<p>Derek wasn’t sure what it was because the other man looked the same, sounded the same but there was something different there, lurking in Stiles’ scent, in the way that his eyes followed Derek around the room. </p>
<p>Derek remembered the way that Stiles used to watch him, his eyes full of suspicion and anger but now the look was different. Stiles’ gaze was less the ever watchful observation of a prey and more predatory, like a cat that had sighted a wounded rat.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Breath Of Life (Another Taste Of Divine Rush)

**Author's Note:**

> Huge thanks to my awesome beta Cougars_catnip for the read through and beta.

There was something different about Stiles.

Derek wasn’t sure what it was because the other man looked the same, sounded the same but there was something different there, lurking in Stiles’ scent, in the way that his eyes followed Derek around the room.

Derek remembered the way that Stiles used to watch him, his eyes full of suspicion and anger but now the look was different. Stiles’ gaze was less the ever watchful observation of a prey and more predatory, like a cat that had sighted a wounded rat.

It felt like Stiles was waiting for Derek to crumble like that rat but Derek couldn’t because running was all he knew now and that’s what he did.

He ran fast and hard, leaving behind a broken pack and the place he’d tried to call his home.

He ran from the scent of flames and ash that clogged his nose and clawed at the back of throat.

He ran from the dreams of his wolf in his head, from the charred flesh and the jagged wounds that littered his canine body. Inflicted just as much by himself as by others because he’d let Kate in, he’d let Isaac, Boyd and Erica in. He’d done it because he didn’t know how to exist on his own, couldn’t even fathom how to be an omega, without a pack and a home.

He ran from Scott’s constant belittlement and rage…from the fireflies that haunted his dreams.

Derek ran until he couldn’t run anymore but the thing that people always forgot was that in the end if you ran from something you were only running towards something else.

Derek didn’t figure it out until the morning when he woke up in Stiles’ bed.

Derek tensed, his entire body going rigid as he opened his eyes, only to find Stiles staring back at him, his lips pulled into a knowing smile and that scent was there again, curling like a smoke beacon and it made Derek want to whine.

Derek had expected a lecture but what he got instead was a promise, a promise that he was sure that Stiles would break within a day.

But Stiles didn’t break his promise.

At first it was little things.

Stiles provided him with a home, spinning some tale to his father that the man seemed to barely believe but the Sherriff still let Derek stay and Derek wondered if that was because the man still saw the lost teen that he had been the night of the fire instead of the broken man he’d grown into.

Or maybe the Sherriff saw both.

It didn’t matter to Derek one way or the other because he had a roof over his head and a soft bed in a house that didn’t make him want to claw his skin open just long enough to dig out his guilt.

It was so easy to fall into a sense of safety in the Stilinski house and that was probably why Derek didn’t drop his guard because he’d never been happy without consequences.

Then Stiles had told him his plan to use the spark to draw out the alphas and Derek had wanted to tell him ‘no’. He’d wanted to go to Stiles’ father, the man who’d trusted him enough to live with him, and tell him that his only child was suggesting a suicide mission but that scent was there every time the thought tried to solidify. It made Derek hold his tongue as followed Stiles out into the woods.

He didn’t need the scent to keep him silent when the alphas appeared.

“I see you brought your pet human, Hale,” Kali sneered, “Going to give him away as a peace offering?”

Before Derek could respond, Stiles patted him on the chest absentmindedly, ignoring the growl rattling from Derek’s throat.

“I’ve got this, big guy,” Stiles smirked as he twirled his modified baseball bat. “I know you guys are probably behind the times with technology but there’s this really awesome phrase going around, ‘talk shit, get hit,’” Stiles taunted and Kali snarled, lunging forward…right into the trap that Stiles had created.

The circle lit up, mountain ash rising from where it had been hidden in the leaves until it covered the screaming alpha then it lashed out like a lasso, from her to Ennis, to the twins before finally curling around Deucalion as the runes on Stiles’ bat lit up.

Derek didn’t know what sent him to his knees, the hole that opened in his chest as the runes blazed brighter and brighter or the sight of Stiles’ body set aflame.

By the time he could breathe again he knew what Stiles had done, he could feel the familiar power settling on his shoulders like a mantle and when he glanced to where the alphas had been there was nothing but ash.

It had bile clawing at his throat because Stiles had done this for him, had become a murderer because Derek was too weak. The thought shattered as a single firefly settled on his skin. When he raised his head he saw hundreds more dancing around Stiles.

What he didn’t see was the slightest hint of pity or guilt and when Stiles smiled; it was the smile of a wolf, bloody but still hungry. It made the alpha roil in Derek’s head but he didn’t hesitate when Stiles held out his hand.

Learning control with that much power beneath his skin was hard, so hard that they’d been forced to tell the Sherriff what was going on when Derek wolfed out at Stiles.

They’d had to tell him about the spark too when Stiles had Derek flat on the ground with just a flicker of his fingers.

The man had taken it much better than either of them had expected…well better than Derek had expected because Stiles just shot his father a knowing look that made the Sherriff’s scent sour with guilt.

Stiles didn’t let Derek hunt down his pack until he was settled. Until he could face questions without feeling like his confidence or his authority was being undermined.

He pushed Derek faster and harder than he’d thought anyone could but when Derek learned it all Stiles had laid him out on his bed and broken him apart in a completely different way.

Mostly Derek remembered being too blissed out to care about the suspicious glances his betas shot his way.

But afterwards, Derek remembered watching fireflies dance in the night as his pack trained and he remembered feeling happy and secure for the first time in years.

This was, of course, when they had a surprise harpy infestation.

Stiles cracked his neck, fingers buried in Derek’s fur as they faced the creatures.

“Okay, we can do this the easy way or the hard way,” he sighed and one of the harpies shrieked in response, a sound that Boyd responded to with a low rumble that sounded like the beginning of an oncoming storm.

“Alright, I guess we’re doing this the hard way,” Stiles muttered as the woods erupted with fireflies that surrounded the wolves as they charged and even in the midst of the violence, Derek was happy.


End file.
